Jimmy Bullard

Jimmy Bullard

Personal information
Full name	James Bullard
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Fulham
Number	21

James "Jimmy" Bullard (born 23 October 1978 in Newham, East London) is an English professional footballer who currently plays as a central midfielder for Fulham. He was educated in England at Erith School.

Wigan Athletic F.C.

Bullard quickly established himself in the Wigan first team and helped them secure promotion to the Premiership in 2004-05 and an appearance in the 2006 League Cup Final, in which they lost to Manchester United.

On Saturday February 11, 2006 Bullard was honoured by Sky's morning football show Soccer AM for running the length of the pitch in an attempt to score when the floodlights went out during Wigan's League Cup semi-final home leg against Arsenal and leapfrogging a pile of players in a goal mouth scramble. They decided to re-name the studio doors and they are now known as Jimmy Bullard's Back Door.

Fulham F.C.

On April 28, 2006 it was announced that Bullard would sign for Fulham at the end of the 2005–06 season after a £2.75 million offer from the London club triggered a release clause in his contract.

He had already become a cult figure at Fulham with his high work rate, skills and charisma, winning man of the match awards in two out of the first three games of the season. His first goal for Fulham came against Bolton Wanderers when he scored a last minute penalty to level the scores at 1–1. Three days later, after he scored a 28-yard curling free kick against Sheffield United in a 1–0 win, Fulham boss Chris Coleman hailed Bullard as "the best £2million we ever spent".

On September 9 2006, Bullard dislocated his kneecap in a match against Newcastle United. This injury was thought to keep him out for six to eight weeks. However three days later it was revealed that Bullard would in fact be out for up to nine months with cruciate knee ligament damage. Fulham manager Lawrie Sanchez announced that the midfielder was aiming to return around Christmas 2007, and hoped to be available for the home tie against former club Wigan on December 22. However it wasn't until January 12 2008 when he returned to the match squad, coming off the bench to play against West Ham. Jimmy then started in a 2 - 1 win against Aston Villa on February 3 setting up the equaliser then scoring the winning goal from a 25-yard free kick and thus winning man of the match. He scored an identical free kick weeks later, to rescue a point against Blackburn Rovers and keep Fulham's hope of Premiership survival alive. After missing a large part of the season due to injury, his return to the team sparked Fulham in to a run of form which saw them move out of the bottom three with one game remaining, after a 2-0 victory over Birmingham City, with Bullard being viewed as the Cottagers best player. With Fulham needing victory to avoid final day relegation, Bullard sent in a 74th minute free-kick which was headed home by Danny Murphy to give complete Fulham's great escape from relegation. Rumour has it, Arsenal have had a bid of £208m accepted for Jimmy, however this is incorrect as it was reported by a bunch of kids on Fulham FC's messageboard.

National career

Although English by birth, Bullard was reported by the BBC in the run-up to the 2006 World Cup to be contemplating an international call-up from Germany, having made his interest known to national coach Jürgen Klinsmann. He qualifies for the German national team through his grandmother. However, he has yet to play in a match for either the German or English national teams.

External links

• Jimmy Bullard at Soccerbase
• Profile at UpThePosh! The Peterborough United Database